Inside of Me
by Isisthatcan
Summary: It is a ninja’s way to gain their power through their emotions and overcoming their fears… so why can’t Marah find hers?


Inside of Me

It is a ninja's way to gain their power through their emotions and overcoming their fears… so why can't Marah find hers?

AN: Summary sucks but I couldn't think of anything better, just please give this a chance 'cos I actually really like the way it turned out. Don't know where the inspiration came form, just that I couldn't ignore this particular bunny. Enjoy and I'd love it if you reviewed.

Marah stared at the scene in front of her hardly daring to believe that it was true, real. She stood in the middle of a specially designed training classroom that normally made her feel safe and warm but now… Now that it resembled the place of her worst memory, all the ninja student could feel was cold. The cold, empty feeling of numbness as the scene played out in front of her. Something that she really didn't want to relive, something that she wished had never happened in the first place…

"Marah, honey?" The careful voice of her mother sounded from the doorway as the seven year-old girl played with her toys.

"Hi Mama!" Marah squealed excitedly and ran forwards, greeting the woman in a huge hug.

The elder brunette though didn't return the hug as she usually did and when she bent to Marah's eye-level she wasn't wearing the usual smile either. In fact the older woman's face was a complete blank, no emotion or responses showing on it whatsoever.

"Mama what's wrong?"

"Marah listen to me properly now alright? I have to tell you something important." And still there was no emotion on her mother's face, no feeling stirring in the depths of her eyes as Marah stared into them. "Can you do that for me?"

The little girl just nodded, fear radiating from her being as her mother's words scared her. And it wasn't just the words either; her mother had never not smiled at her in greeting before. That and the way her daddy had been acting and why they were on this stupid, desolate planet. Marah didn't even know it's name and she didn't really know why they were there. Visiting their uncle, that's what her and her sister had been told. Marah hadn't known they'd had any other relations, except for the ones on Earth but they were so far away…

"Your father and I," Her mother began, and here her eyes appeared to be glossing over "We've decided we need a little time alone, to re-connect with ourselves and regain our path." Her mother faltered here and turned slightly to acknowledge the figure standing by the door of the room, hidden by the shadows "We have to leave for a little while," she repeated her voice almost a whisper now "So you'll be staying with your uncle. He's going to look after you."

"And we'll have such a fun time together," her uncle Lothor said as he finally stepped fully into the room "We'll get to know each other better, like family should."

Marah began to smile at her uncle then but stopped when her mother let out a strangled noise, halfway between a snort and a sob.

"I'll take good care of them Darna," Lothor said as he placed a reassuring hand on her mother's shoulder but instead of looking comforted her mother jerked up stiffly and bit into her lip, her eyes watering suddenly. Turning his attention back to Marah Lothor continued darkly "I'll teach them everything they need to know about being a ninja."

Marah couldn't help but feel her fear intensify as her uncle's eyes seemed to change, a possessive glint now glaring down at her. She didn't feel safe with him, she didn't feel right with him looking at her that way. Marah backed up into the arms of her mother but instead of being accepted there and receiving the safety and comfort a child should from their mother, she was pushed away, into her uncle's outstretched arms.

Lothor wrapped an arm around her and Marah felt the strangest of sensations run through her; a cold, tingling vibration that made her shiver. Her uncle's eyes just bored down into her, making her cower in his grasp.

"There's a lot of power in you little one," his harsh voice whispered "And I'm going to help you use it in the right way. Isn't that right Darna?"

Marah turned to her mother desperately, silently screaming in her head to be taken away, to be protected from whatever her uncle was. Her eyes pleaded with her mother's, but all she saw in return was a glossy, blank stare.

"Well I'll just leave you to say goodbye then." Lothor said, a grin on his face that didn't make Marah feel happy at all.

And suddenly she felt her mother's arms around her, but there was no warmth in them, only a fierce desperation "We'll come back for you," Darna whispered desperately into her daughter's ear "As soon as we can Marah, I promise. I'll come back for you my love."

Marah couldn't say anything in return, just stood there frozen from the confusion of her mother's words, the fear of her uncle and the after-effect of whatever it was that he did to her. She stood there, still as a statue for a long time, not knowing what to do now after her mother had left.

Kapri came in later, tears running down her cheeks, mumbling something about daddy saying that eh and mummy were going away for awhile and that they had to do whatever uncle told them. Marah found that she could move then, walking over to huddle beside her sister, whose embrace could offer no warmth.

As the scene faded away and Marah found herself staring at an empty classroom again she knew she'd failed the exercise. Hearing steps she turned around, now only remembering that she was being supervised in the test.

Dustin's brown eyes, filed with sadness and horror, met her empty ones and Marah didn't know what to do. That was her worst memory ever, and the one that had planted the seed of doubt in herself that was now responsible for her lack of power control; her lack of emotion control. It was the last time Marah had truly felt like an actual person, only for it to have been taken away from her by her uncle, her so-called family. Her parents had never come back, although Marah wasn't sure if that was from lack of trying on their part or her uncle's devious plots. For seven years of her life Marah had been raised as a person and not an accessory, had been raised with values and dreams and told to follow her heart. Then her uncle had intervened and she'd become one of his followers, trained by him and for him.

Marah started suddenly as Dustin almost flung himself towards her, gathering her up in a hug so tight she felt like he might squeeze her out of existence. But only for a second. Then she felt the warmth and security that Dustin was showering down upon her and Marah sobbed, her body collapsing against his as she realised that the last time she'd been hugged like this was before the memory they had both just witnessed being relived.

Since before she'd lost her family and had her soul ripped away by being forced to turn evil.


End file.
